The ICE Difference

"i really want to
explore fresh
seasonal ingredients
and create deserts
plated in
an artful way.”Emily S.,
Pastry & Baking"The ICE curriculum is
comprehensive, and
has a great range
of topics within a
short time frame"James T.,
Pastry & Baking

Finding The Best School For Your Personal Goals

The reality is that there are many culinary schools to choose from. They vary by size, location, length of program, course of study, job placement rate and—of course—cost. We pride ourselves on the quality of our curriculum, instructors, facility and ingredients, as well as the doors an ICE education can open through externships, networking and volunteering opportunities. Moreover, we’re committed to providing this value in less time than many other schools.

Small, Hands-on Classes for Personal Mentoring

By national and New York City standards, ICE’s classes are intimate, never more than 16 in Culinary Arts and Pastry & Baking classes. We believe in providing an individualized learning experience for all students—if you need help, we can support you, and if you need extra motivation, we can push you. A smaller class size also makes it easier for your creativity and personal interests to be heard.

ICE Externships Build Your Resume

An ICE education includes a real world externship. While other culinary schools only provide work experience at on-site restaurants, ICE students have diverse career interests, from food media to catering to hotel management. With that in mind, we offer an equally diverse range of externship opportunities to suit our students’ individual career goals.

This hands-on experience begins to build your resume and provides concrete references for your first job interview. Most importantly, over half of our graduates receive job offers from their externship site.

Impressive Job Placement Track Record

Our award-winning programs have launched more than 11,000 careers, and our job placement rate for recent graduates is 86%*. To reach these high standards, ICE maintains a staff of five full-time counselors dedicated to job and externship placements, as well as providing ongoing career support for our alumni community. It’s an investment we believe is a crucial part of the recipe for success that you should expect from culinary school, and we’re proud that top chefs and restaurateurs look to ICE for talent, ambition and well-trained staff.

NYC’s Culinary Business School

Many people are surprised to learn that ICE does more than train chefs. We’re also an accredited and respected culinary business school, ideal for students who dream of owning, managing or operating a food business.

Taught by former restaurant owners and managers—who are still active consultants in the field—our Culinary Management program features NYC as its classroom. In addition to 316 hours of classwork, we take you on field trips and host guest lectures with leaders in the field. Students also learn key entrepreneurial skills, as the program guides students through the development of a prototype business plan and pitching these plans to potential investors.

In addition, our flexible scheduling and tuition discounts for “double majors” make it easy for students to combine studies in Culinary or Pastry & Baking Arts with our programs in Culinary or Hospitality Management—earning two diplomas in the time it would normally take to earn one.

A Leader in Culinary Creativity

In terms of course offerings, ICE is one of the largest and most active culinary education centers in the nation. In addition to our career training programs, our School of Professional Development and School of Recreational Cooking offer classes in cooking, baking, business management, wine and mixology, serving an audience of more than 26,000 home cooks and professional chefs each year.

ICE’s Special Events Division also hosts over 500 culinary and press events annually, from high profile cookbook launches to lectures, demonstrations and fundraisers with acclaimed restaurateurs and chefs (like Thomas Keller, Alain Ducasse and Rick Bayless). Morover, these events are exceptional networking opportunities for our students, who regularly volunteer at on-site events.

This unrivaled access to an international community of culinary innovators goes beyond the walls of our facility. Students are encouraged to volunteer at a wide range of industry events and charitable functions, with ICE providing more student volunteers than any other school at such events as the the James Beard Awards, StarChefs’ Annual Chef Congress, Dessert Professional’s “Top Ten Pastry Chefs” awards, and City Harvest’s NYC Chefs Gala.

A Diverse, Inclusive Culinary Community

Your career in food will depend on the people you surround yourself with and the level of commitment you bring to the table. That’s why, at ICE, we’re incredibly proud of the strength of our community. While your time in the classroom only lasts 6-13 months, our instructors, staff and alumni network remain valuable professional resources throughout your career.

Among the many resources available to alumni, our Career Services team sends out weekly email announcements—each of which contain an average of 175 job opportunities. You get what you put in, but for those with the drive and the passion to succeed, ICE can provide the extra push you need to take your career to the next level.

*2015 ACCSC (accrediting) annual report employment rate is 86% of 511 students available for employment. The remaining 14% includes students who were employed in an unrelated occupation, unemployed, and whose outcomes were unknown to ICE at the time of filing. For individual program completion and placement rates, please see that program's "Gainful Employment Disclosure" information.

"ICE gave me the solid foundation I needed to embark on a successful and unique culinary career. The instructors, facilities, curriculum, and industry access are of the highest quality and I left the program having gained an invaluable education." GAIL SIMMONSCulinary Expert/Food Writer/ Television Personality,
ICE graduate ‘99